Not Alone
by Dr. ForgottenFables
Summary: Aelita didn't know how much more of it she could take. The monsters hunting her, the evil computer program trying to kill her friends... and the loneliness. She just wanted someone to be there for her so that she would never have to be alone. She prayed for the loneliness to end... and Lyoko heard her prayers. It reached out into the digital ocean and found her a guardian.
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

Aelita sat quietly, flicking a finger across the display of the tower's interface as she searched for something that she might have over looked last time she had checked the materialization program. It wasn't like there was anything else for her to do. All of her friends out in the real world were going to their classes, and without their protection, it was too dangerous for her to leave the tower.

'The real world.' Those words echoed in her mind. She knew that she was not in the real world. She was trapped, help prisoner inside of a virtual world in a supercomputer in an abandoned factory. The world of Lyoko.

It was the only world she had ever known, and though the others could visit her inside of Lyoko and she could talk to them while they were in the real world, she could not go there. She would listen to them talking about how their days at school were, how they would tease and pull pranks on the gym teacher and the principle's daughter Sissy. She would hear about the taste of the cafeteria food and the smell of the flowers. She would watch as they lived their lives, while she was a prisoner inside of a computer.

She didn't hate them for it. They were the best friends she could have ever asked for. They risked so much to help her and they treated her like a normal girl, even though she was just a program in a computer, just a bunch of ones and zeroes. But she wished that she could escape. To get out of the digital dungeon and feel what it is like to be in the real world. To have five senses. To go to school and have normal kid problems.

And... she didn't want to be alone anymore. She didn't want to live in fear of what tomorrow might being. She didn't want to live with the fact that her friends could die and that it would be all her fault. She was always so scared, sitting inside of the towers, not able to leave, least XANA's monsters find her and destroy her.

She had to get the materialization code working properly. It was her only hope of ever getting out of this state of living hell. A small trimble went up her arm as she ran another simulation of the code, holding a breath that wasn't real, praying that it would turn out positive.

A red 'X' flashed on the screen. It was another failure. Aelita's head fell. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. You can't cry on Lyoko.

Even though she was smarter than most college professors, Aelita was in essence just a little girl. She had the body and maturity of a child, just twelve year old. She was small, with bright pink hair and eyes, the picture of innocents. What had she done to deserve this?

Whenever she was with the others, she always put on a brave face. She didn't want to be more of a burden to her than she already was. Jeremy was already trying everything he could to help her finally become a flesh and blood girl. But in those moments alone, when none of the others could see her, she broke down, her arms and legs shaking with the fear and stress. "Please... I don't want to be alone anymore." She whispered, it was a plea that Lyoko itself.

She closer her eyes. She will let her have just ten more seconds of weakness. Then she would pull herself together and try again. She couldn't give up. She had to escape.

10... 9... 8...

 **Thump... Thump...**

Aelita's eyes shot open as she felt them. A stead pulse that moved through the very world of Lyoko itself.

A tower had just activated.

* * *

 **Just an idea that I am pushing around. Basic idea being that Danny fell into Level 0 during the doom thing and ended up in the digital ocean before being downloaded into Lyoko. He has no memory of his life before than at the moment and will act as a sort of protector/big brother for Aelita.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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"Freedom! Freedom at last!" Odd Della Robbia shouted on the top of his longs and he charged out of the science classroom that was held outside of the man school building. "The promise time of the three day weekend has come!"

His parents must have had a certain level of foresight into their child's future when they named him. Odd couldn't have been more odd if he tried. The boy walked around dressed in bright purple shirt and and a darker purple baggy pants. His blond hair was jelled up to a point and had a large spot of purple dye right in the middle of it. He could be seen from miles away, even if he was a bit on the short side.

"Calm done Odd, before you bust a lung." Ulrich said as he walked out of the classroom after his roommate. Ulrich Stern was not nearly as flashy as his friend, wearing a plain t-shirt with a dull green button up over it that he left hanging open. His brown hair was short, slightly shorter in the back than the front. "After all, Mrs. Hertz gave us enough homework for four days."

"Oh come on man don't rain on parade. After all, Mrs. Petitijean has special meals on long weekends." Odd said with a wide grin.

"Only you could be excited about school cafeteria food, Odd." Jeremy said, shaking his head as he joined his two friends. Jeremy Belpois was the text book picture of the 'nerd boy'. Combed blond hair, ordinary black rimmed glasses, a blue turtle neck sweeter and a laptop backpack that was never seen without. Some people wondered if he slept with his laptop clutched in his arms. He was the top student in the entire school, and just plan smart.

"I'm sure there are other like me out in the world. People who truly appreciate good food." Odd said standing up as talk as he could, and was still the shortest one there if you didn't count his hair.

"I don't think there is anyone else like you in the world, Odd." Ulrich said, and the three boy's shared a laugh.

"So Einstein, how are you going to spend your three days?" Odd asked Jeremy as the three of them walked towards the dormitory.

"How else? I'm going to be working on the materialization program, see if I can't make some progress." Jeremy said as he shifted his laptop bag on his shoulders.

"Of course, you aren't going to rest until you can embrace your sweet Aelita!" Odd said dramatical, hugging himself and rocking back and forth on his heels, earning a chuckle out of Ulrich.

"It... it isn't like that!" Jeremy said, blushing a bright red.

"Sure it isn't." Ulrich said rolling his eyes, but in a more serious voice he asked. "Have... have you made any progress?"

Jeremy was quiet as the other two stared at him. Slowly he shook his head. "I don't know what I'm missing. I... No, I'm not going to get depressed about this." He said looking up at them. "Aelita is counting on me to help get her out of there, so I'm going to do it. I just need a little more time."

"Hey, take all the time you need. The Lyoko Warriors are more than ready for anything XANA can throw at us. That egocentric counculator program ain't got nothing on us." Odd said proudly. "We are ready for him. Anywhere and anytime."

Jeremy's laptop started to beep. The three of them froze before rushing into a small gap between buildings where they wouldn't be overheard. Jeremy pulled out his laptop. "Jeremy, thank goodness!" Aelita said as he image appeared on the screen.

"What's wrong Aelita?" Jeremy asked, though he could probably guess from the worry in her voice.

"A tower has just been activated!" Aelita said quickly.

"Oh come on! He couldn't have waited until after dinner!" Odd shouted angrily.

"What happened to anywhere anytime?" Ulrich said with a grin as he pulled out his phone to call Yumi.

"You can eat later. Aelita needs us now." Jeremy said as he closed his laptop and the three of them started off towards the underground passage that lead to factory at the edge of town.

* * *

Aelita had switched towers in order to be as close as possible without leaving the safety of the tower. She would have to watch until the others arrived before she could do anymore.

 **Thump... Thump... Thump...**

The pulsations echoed through the tower. They seemed louder than usual.

 **Thump... Where am I..? Thump...**

Aelita blinked in confused. She had thought she had heard a voice in the pulsations, but that had never happened before. Was that even possible? Something felt wrong. But she didn't know what it was. "Hurry Jeremy." She whispered as she waited there... alone.

* * *

A few minutes later the boys were standing in the elevator in the abandoned factory where the supercomputer was held, going down to the control room.

"Do you know when Yumi is going to get here?" Jeremy asked as the elevator slowly made its decent.

As the doors opened they saw the girl herself standing their waiting for them with her arms cross and one foot tapping the ground impatiently. "What took you guys so long?" She asked with a smug grin at having beat them all there.

Yumi Ishiyama was rather tall for a Japanese girl, the tallest member of the group. Her raven black hair was parted down the middle and kept out of her face. She was dressed completely in black, a black turtle neck sweater that was cut short to leave her midrift exposed, black jeans and black shoes.

"Alright, you all head down to the scanners, I'll get ready to virtualize all of you." Jeremy said as he ran into the control room, a large circular room with a hologram of the world of Lyoko in the center of it. Around it was a computer consol that was hooked directly up to the supercomputer.

Yumi stepped into the elevator with the others and went down one more level to a room with three large metal tubes, the scanners. "You guys ready for some action?" Yumi asked as she walked into the nearest tube.

"I'm ready to get this over with so I can get back to all you can eat meatballs and gravy." Odd said as he stepped into his own tube.

"That doesn't even sound appetizing." Ulrick said was a slight gagging noise as he stepped into the last scanner.

"~Are you all ready?~" Jeremy's voice echoed over the speaker.

"Ready and waiting Captain Einstein!" Odd shouted back.

"~Alright then, the activated tower is in the forest region. I'll drop you in as close as I can to Aelita. You all know the drill from there.~" Jeremy said as he closed the doors. "~Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrick. Transfer Yumi.~" The three warriors felt the familiar feeling of being transported as the lights in the scanner became brighter and brighter. "~Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrick. Scanner Yumi... virtualization.~"


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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With the easy of practice the three Lyoko warriors materialized into the air above the runway and fell the ten feet onto the pathway, landing lightly on there feet. "Flawless transfer as always, Einstein." Odd joked as he quickly scanned there surroundings. The familiar sight of the twisted green pathways bordered on either side by the digital ocean that characterized the forest area was unchanged. Large trees obscured much of there vision, but that was just as much to there enemies advantage as there's. "So where's the princess?"

"I'm here." Aelita said as she ran up to the group, glad to see her protectors and friends. She was long since used to them calling her the princess. They thought it fit her, she looked like a fairy princess from some kind of children's story, with her pink hair, pointed ears, and the small pink tattoos underneath her eyes. Her pink tunic and skirt on top of a simple white paints with pink wrappings also had a fairy princess feel to them.

Though she wasn't sure if she liked being the princess. She hated the fact that she had next to no offensive abilities and had to depend of them to protect her, with being able to offer them much support in return.

She glanced over the three of them. Each was changed into there Lyoko personas. Odd was still dressed in purple though he now had cat ears and a tail, and purple paw like gloves that could fire his 'laser arrows' attacks. Ulrich was dressed in a yellow tonic and black pants, a sword on his back and a bandanna around his head to complete the samaria look. Yumi's was Aelita's favorite look, she was dress as a Japanese fan dancer, and it fit with her signature weapon which was a fan she could throw like a destructive Frisbee.

They were her heroes who always helped her pull through. They let her roam around on Lyoko without having to worry about being attacked by monsters. And they would help her do her job, deactivating the towers.

"Jeremy, can you give us the coordinates for the tower?" Yumi asked the sky, knowing very well that Jeremy was able to listen to them from his armchair in the real world.

"No need." Aelita said pointing to the ground. Every few seconds a loud 'Thump' could be heard as the pulsations echoed through the ground and large circles appeared to pulse in and out of existence, forming a line leading away from the tower. And it that wasn't direction enough they could see the wires that connected the towers snaking their way around Lyoko, and the wires carried the same pulse only much more visible. It made it easy enough to follow it back to the tower. "Though there is something different this time..."

"Are those pulsations green?" Odd interrupted her. Sure enough the normal red pulsations had been replaced by green ones.

"Well that is new." Ulrich admitted with a frown. "Hey Jeremy do we know how XANA is attacking yet?"

"~No, not yet.~" Jeremy admitted. "~I've been looking through the news but nothing is jumping out at me. I'll try to preform a scan to find out where the energy is going, but in the mean time you guys need to get to that tower.~"

"Well, you heard the man, lets move." Yumi said, roller her shoulders a little to warm up before taking point and running down the pathway in the direction of the strange green pulsations.

"So Yumi, what are your plans for the three day weekend?" Odd asked as the group ran along. It wasn't as if they had to worry about breathing properly while running on Lyoko, so they might as well talk.

"My folks decided that they wanted to spend the time as a family so we're going to be leaving for a road trip tomorrow morning." Yumi said with a small shrug.

"Bummer. It won't be the same around here without you." Ulrich said with a note of disappointment. It wasn't exactly a secret that the brown haired boy liked their Japanese friend, though he never really came forward about it.

"Yeah, I could really live without being stuck in a car for three days with my parents and my bratty little brother." Yumi admitted to her dislike of the plan. "Not to mention that I won't be around if XANA decides to attack again over the weekend. But their is nothing I can do."

"You're lucky..." Aelita mumbled, more to herself than them. What she couldn't give to have three days away from it all. Three days to see places she'd never been to before. Three days without having to worry about monsters. Three days... with a family of her own.

She never had any family. She had been alone when Jeremy had first reactivated the supercomputer, and she had no memories of a time before that. The only thing she could remember was her name, 'Aelita'.

"What was that, Aelita?" Odd asked not quiet hearing her.

Aelita shook her head. "It's nothing." She said, pushing down her regrets. They had a job to do, she didn't have time to think about things like that at the moment. There would be plenty of time for that later... when she was alone again.

All for of them jumped as the sound of laser fire filled the air. Odd grabbed Aelita and pulled her behind a tree as Ulrich and Yumi dived behind a second one on the opposite side of the path.

"What the heck, did they spot us?" Ulrich said confused.

"No, the shorts sound to far away." Yumi responded as she peeked out from behind the tree trunk to find that there were still no monsters in sight.

"~You're right Yumi, there are monsters, but they are all over that next hill standing guard over the tower.~" Jeremy's voice echoed through the air. "~Oh man, and there are a lot of them.~"

"But what are they firing at?" Aelita said confused.

"~I don't know.~" Jeremy admitted.

"Give me a second, I'll check it out." Odd said, giving Aelita a friendly wink before jumping up and grabbing onto the tree they were hiding behind.

He used his cat like claws to dig into the bark and climb higher and higher until he could see over the hill. "Oh wow." He said as his eyes widened.

"What is it, Odd? What do you see?" Ulrich called up to his friend.

"The activated tower. It's glowing green." Odd called down. "And XANA's monsters. They are attacking it."

"What!?" Yumi said with surprise.

"What does that mean?" Ulrich echoed the sentiment.

"Maybe... XANA wasn't the one that activated this tower." Aelita suggested.

"~I think Aelita is right.~" Jeremy said from the real world. "~I just got back the analysis of were the activated tower's energy is going. But the tower isn't sending energy to the real world. It's pulling in data in from... from the digital ocean.~"

"Wait a second, I thought you said that the digital ocean was nothing but a bunch of random data. How can something be coming from it?" Odd asked confused.

"~I have no idea.~" Jeremy said, they could practically see him taring out his own hair with frustration at not understanding what was going on.

"Jeremy, if that data is coming in from the digital ocean, then who knows what it contains. This could be extremely important." Aelita said as Odd jumped back down from the tree, landing right next to her.

"Especially if XANA is going through all the trouble of destroying a tower in order to hide it." Odd added.

"I don't know, could be a trap." Ulrich said cautious as always.

"Why would XANA activate a tower just to lure us here, when he could activate a tower to attack us in the real world and we would be forced to come here anyways?" Yumi reasoned. "I say we give it a shot."

"~Agreed. This could be a one time opportunity. We can't miss it.~" Jeremy said as the Lyoko Warriors started for the top of the hill. "~Alright everyone, you know how it works. Clear a path through the monsters so that Aelita can get to the tower."

"Ah... Jeremy... that might be easier said then done." Ulrich said, his eyes widening when he reached the top of the hill and looked down at the monsters that were in the middle of an open valley below them, each trying to destroy the glowing green tower.

On a bad day they might have to deal with ten monsters total, and they would barely get though it. But done in the valley below the group was more than thirty monsters; three Megatanks, seven Bloks, at least a dozen Kankrelats and eight Hornets flying about. All of them were focusing fire on the tower.

"I guess without the need to use resource to maintain the activated tower, XANA managed to support a lot more monsters." Aelita said, her eye just as wide as Ulrich's as she looked over the massive group.

"Aelita, you stay back here." Yumi said as she pulled out her fans. "We'll try to clear out the monsters, but if we fail you need to forget about this tower and just get out of here."

"But..." Aelita started but she was cut off.

"~No Aelita, she's right. If their life points hit zero then they just get devirtualized. But if yours hit zero... you'll be gone forever.~" Jeremy said.

Those words made Aelita wince. But she nodded. "Just be careful."

"Aren't we always." Ulrich said with a laugh before running in.

"Nope, I don't think we ever are." Odd said as he ran in behind him. Yumi nodded towards Aelita who hide behind one of the trees as her three friends rushed in to fight XANA's monsters. She could only hope that they would succeed.


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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Ulrich ran ahead of the others, drawing his sword as he quickly scanned the circle of enemies that surrounded the tower, trying to decide on the best angle of approach. He was the heavy hitter of the group since his sword's 60 damage per hit and instant kill 'impact' attacks could take down opponents fast once he got into range. The only problem being that he had to get into range and when you only have melee attacks and your opponents all have lasers, that can be a problem.

He glanced at the Megatanks and knew that he would be next to useless against them. The massive balls were only weak too attacks from straight in front, behind, or above them, but they also could shot in all of those directions at once on a moments notice for 100 points of damage, an instant kill if it lands. Meaning that someone like Ulrich, who would have to get up close to it in order to attack would have no chance of getting a hit in before being devirtualized.

The Hornets were another problem that was difficult for him to take care of. Air born enemies rarely stayed still long enough to be slashed and they could just stay too far out of his reach and dodge whenever he tried to jump at them.

But the other ground units, the Bloks and the Kankrelats, now they were easy picking for the young swordsman.

"Odd, get the high ground and take out those Megatanks. Yumi, you got wasp duty. Keep them off Odd until he can take care of the enemy big guns. I'll do my best to keep the ground units distracted until you can join me." Ulrich said in the meaner of a general ordering around his troops. "Super Sprint!" Ulrich shouted, activating an ability to increase his speed so that he could dash through two Kankrelats before the other monsters had a chance to realize that they were under attack.

"You got it!" Odd shouted as he jumped on a tree and climbed up to one of the higher branches. He steadied himself for a second before taking aim at the nearest Megatank. He used his left arm to steady his right before taking the shot. "Laser Arrow!" He shouted, activating his skill.

Odd's 'Laser Arrow' didn't have nearly the damage of Ulrich's sword strikes, only 20 damage per shot. But since it was much longer range and rapid fire, it could still get the job done. Especial since a strike to the XANA marks on the monsters granted a 2x damage bonus. Only problem being ammo limitations. He could only fire off twelve shots before having to wait for Jeremy to run a reloading program that took thirty seconds to run. Something that could land him in trouble if he was not careful.

Odd quickly fired off three of the arrows down at the Megatank, enough to completely whip out its . The first two landed on the mark but the tank closed itself up before the third arrow could finish the job. "Rats." Odd grumbled as he waited for the tank to open back up and show its weak point.

But Odd was startled out of that when three laser shots nearly hit him. He looked up to see that the Hornets had noticed him and that the eight flying bugs had decided that taking him out was the highest priority. Odd took a hit to the shoulder, losing 20 of his 90 life points, causing him to get a small grunt of pain as he tried to dodge the incoming fire.

Unlike Yumi and Ulrich, Odd had no defensive abilities, so when under fire, he had no choice but to try to dodge as best he could, using his surroundings as cover. So in order to take cover he swung behind the tree trunk to position it between himself and the flying bugs.

The Hornets flew past the tree in order to get a good angle on the cat boy. "Come on, why are you coming after me?" Odd whined.

The bugs started to charge up there lasers but were forced to scatter as two glowing fans flew through the air like Frisbees, cutting through two of the Hornets as they went. "Don't worry Odd, I got you!" Yumi called out as the fans boomeranged back to her.

Yumi's weapons were well adapted to taking out the airborne pests. Since she could control the path the fans took through the air even after she through them using her telekenosis in order to make slight changes to the trajectory to counter the Hornets' attempts to dodge. And with 30 damage per hit, it was enough to take out those enemies with less life points.

The girl glanced over at were Ulrich was fighting to see how he was fairing. The answer being not very well. Though he had used the moments of confusion to take out a total of five Kankrelats and two Bloks, the moment they had all noticed him things went down hill.

Ulrich as stuck on defense as he tried to block and dodge laser shorts from eight different attackers. "Ulrich!" Yumi called out as two of the blasts made if through and hit the boy squire in the chest for a critical blow, taking him down to just 30 life points left.

"Don't worry about me! Just tell Odd to hurry it up with those tanks. I don't know who much of the tower can take!" Ulrich shouted back as he recovered himself. "Triplicate!" He shouted, using another skill to split him into three separate Ulrichs. It was a risky skill since it divided his reaction time among the three as well as his life points. But since he would be devirtualized in one more shot anyways, he had nothing to lose.

Two of the Ulrich's rushed forwards in a kamikaze move, jumping into the air and towards one of the Bloks each. One of them was shot down immediately, but the other managed to land on the target and stab it in the XANA symbol, taking it out just seconds before getting shot. Now Ulrich had just 10 life points left. He couldn't let himself get hit.

Yumi turned back to her own task, taking out the Hornets. With a small battle cry, she sent her fans flying through the air towards the winged insects, using her telekenosis in order to try to track them.

Odd himself had managed to finish off the first Megatank and was moving onto the second. But the tank had closed down and decided to try to run over some of the attackers. "Yumi look out!" Odd shouted as the Megatank flew towards her at high speeds.

Yumi had to drop her telekenosis in order to jump out of the way of the wrecking ball. "Yumi!" Ulrich shouted. The momentary distraction caused him to miss blocking one of the incoming lasers and he was struck in the shoulder, causing him to disappear as his image shattered.

"We lost Ulrich!" Odd shouted angrily as he took a shot at the Megatank.

Aelita watched the whole thing from a safe distance. She felt so useless, standing there on the hill while her friend were fighting. But she had no offensive abilities. She could make structures appear to provide some cover, but not from the range that she was currently at.

She watched as one of the Megatanks continued to fire on the tower.

Thump... Thump... Stop it... Thump... It hurts...

Aelita could hear the tower crying as it was shot again and again. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She hated it. She hated being so useless.

But her eyes shot open again when she heard something behind her. Turning her head she let out a scream. Three crab monsters had materialized behind her.

The eight foot tall crab shelled monsters glared down at her with there three lends like eyes. The eyes began to glow red and Aelita jumped forward and out of the way as she scrambled to get away from the monsters. But in during so, she was being forced closer to the tower, and XANA's waiting army.

"~Aelita!~" Jeremy shorted, but there was nothing he could do.

"I'll save her!" Odd said trying to take aim from his branch in the tree, but the megatank he had shot earlier sent out a large wave of red energy that chopped the branch he was standing on out from underneath him, leaving him falling towards the ground and causing his Laser Arrow to miss its target. Odd hit the ground hard enough to lose some life points and was momentarily stunned. But when he did start to regain his senses he looked up to see the Megatank staring right at him, charging up its wave laser.

Throwing up his arm, Odd shouted. "Laser Arrow!" The small dart flew forward, hitting the Megatank in its XANA eye, but not before it got off its final shot. The wave of red energy hit Odd head on, and the boy was devirtualized.

"Odd, no!" Yumi shouted, finding that she was the only one left there to protect Aelita.

Aelita was trying to get away from the crabs, but one of them managed to hit her in the leg, causing her to get a shout of pain and fall the the ground. Aelita looked up to see the crabs preparing to finish the job, but Yumi jumped between them, using her fans to block the blasts.

Unfortunately, the crabs were not the only ones there and Yumi found herself having to block fire from all sides in order to protect Aelita. Even so, she managed to hold out for a few seconds before one of the remaining Bloks shot a freeze ray and her arm became locked in place. leaving her with only one fan to block with.

She took two shorts the the head and she started to devirtualized, only managing to throw her fan at the last second to take out one of the crabs before completely disappearing.

"No!" Aelita cried as she realized she was all alone. Then the Megatank that had been shooting the tower gave one final blast, and the tower shattered into green dust.

Aelita's eyes widened as she watched the tower breaking. The thing they had all been fighting for. It had all been for nothing. And now... she was going to die. "Please... I don't want to die..." She looked up in horror as one of the crabs walked up to her, preparing to impale her on its pointed legs. She closed her eyes tight, preparing for the end.

But instead of feeling the force of the crab's legs being driven down upon her, she felt something different. Something completely foreign to her.

It was wind. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up again. The green dust in the air was rushing forward in front of Aelita, gathering in between her and the attacking crab. It formed into the shape of a boy, one taller than ever Yumi. It grabbed both of the crab's legs, holding it back for a few seconds before lifting it up off the ground. He/it swung the crab around, using it as some kind of bat, smacking the other crab as well as a Kankrelat and the last three Bloks off the edge of the path and into the digital ocean before throwing the crab off the edge after them.

Aelita was shocked by the display of raw strength. It wasn't anything like she had seen from the Lyoko warriors. As she stared the green light began to fade and she could see her savior clearly. He was a boy like she had thought, one that was a bit older than any of her friends were, standing at a height that would be a head taller than Aelita herself, had she been standing.

He had snow white hair and strange green eyes that scanned over the monsters, as if he was quickly trying to decide on a plan of action. The boy was dressed in a white jump suit with a black long sleeved tunic that didn't completely cover his stomach and black jeans over it. On his hands were black fingerless gloves with green lines covering them that seemed to glow faintly as the boy tightened his fists.

The remaining Kankrelats and Hornets opened fire on him but he quickly dodged each shot while moving forward, in order to put some distance between himself and Aelita, drawing the fire away from her.

"Ecto blasts!" The boy shouted. The boy's hands erupted into green flames and he started to return fire with his own green laser blasts. With each shot another one of the bug-like monsters fell until there were none of them left.

Aelita didn't know what to think as this stranger systematically took down all of XANA's monsters. Who was he? What was he doing there? But Aelita didn't have time to think about it in great detail. She heard the sound of a laser charging and turned her head to see the last Megatank charging up a shot, one that was aimed straight for her.

She jumped to the side, barely dodging the shot. The boy's head shot up as he heard the blast and he turned to see Aelita on the ground, the Megatank changing up another shot to take her out.

The boy quickly moved between Aelita and the tank before throwing up his hands. "Ecto Shield!" He shouted just as the Megatank shot off its cannon. The wave of red energy smashed into a green dome that appeared around Aelita and the strange boy. It was holding back the tanks shot, but the Megatank was not letting up.

The boy gave a slight grunt as if the effort of keeping up the shield was tiring him. Then in one swift motion he dropped the shield, turned around and grabbed Aelita, pulling her out of the way of the Megatank's blast.

Next thing Aelita knew, she was in the boy's arms, being carried bridal style as he ran away from XANA's monster. The tank tried two more times to shot him, but he just jumped aside each time, until he was out of range.

Then, seeing that the boy was out of range, the Megatank turned into a ball and started to roll after them, slowly catching up. Aelita watched the wrecking ball slowly closing the distances between them from over the boy's shoulder. "It's catching up." She said. They were the first words she had managed since the mysterious boy had appeared.

"Don't worry." He had replied. "I'll lose him."

Aelita looked forward and was shocked when she saw that they were heading for a dead end. The pathway was ending and there was nowhere within jumping distance. But even so, the boy didn't slow down. The pink haired girl screamed, closing her eyes tight as the boy jumped off of the edge.

She expected them to fall into the digital ocean. To be taken apart and disappear forever. But they didn't. As she opened her eyes, she her jaw dropped open as she realized that they were flying through the air. She turned her head back in time to see the Megatank flying off the edge of the pathway they had just been running along before falling into the digital ocean, causing an explosion of light as it went in.

Slowly, the white haired boy descended towards another path, landing on the ground before gently putting Aelita down. "Well that was a trip." He said in a rather light tone of voice that didn't seem to really fit the mood, or the concerned look on his face. "Are you alright?"

Aelita nodded and tried to find her voice. "Yes... I think so." She said as she gazed up into the boy's green eyes. "But... who are you?"

"...I'm... I'm..." The boy said his eyes started to lose focus and he shook his head. "I... I don't know."


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

Jeremy was frantic. Three crabs had appeared behind Aelita and were driving her out of hiding and towards the other monster. The genius boy could do nothing but watch as Ulrich, Odd and even Yumi were devirtualized, leaving Aelita alone and defenseless.

"No... no... no!" Jeremy shouted angrily as he hit the keyboard in frustration. There was nothing he could do. There was nothing he could do!

"Jeremy, what is it!?" Urich shouted as he pulled himself up through the ladder hatch that lead up from the scanner rooms.

"This is awful. XANA sent Crabs in to flush Aelita out of her hiding spot and Odd and Yumi just go devirtualized." Jeremy said. He stomach was turning circles as he tried to get the words out. He felt like he was going to be sick. Ulrich's eyes widened as he realized what the implication were.

"You don't mean that Aelita is..." Ulrich couldn't finish the sentence.

"XANA wins." Jeremy said, sounding as if he wanted to die. But then the supercomputer began to react, warning of a massive data serge. "What the?"

Jeremy looked up at the display to see the tower disappearing and an unknown data signature appearing next to Aelita. Next thing the computer wiz knew a far number of XANA's monsters disappeared from the map. "Is Aelita alright! Did she manage to get away!" Odd shouted desperately as he and Yumi rushed out of the elevator.

"I don't know. There is someone out there. I can't tell what it is though, but it's taking out XANA's monsters." Jeremy said, quickly getting back to typing in commands on the key board as fast as he could, trying to exchange the map for a real time image while running an identification protocol on the new arrival.

"So, Aelita is safe." Odd said with a say of relief.

"She's not out of the woods yet." Yumi said, knowing just how many monsters there were.

"I'll take any chance we can get at this point." Ulrich said as he made to look over Jeremy's shoulder. The want-to-be samaria was quickly joined by both Odd and Yumi.

They watched in fascination as the dots that represented XANA's monsters disappeared one after another until only the Megatank remained. The newcomer, marked by a black dot, was standing between the Megatank's red dot and Aelita's yellow dot.

Momently later the black and yellow dots over lapped and began to move away from the tank which quickly pursued. "What? Why is he running?" Odd asked confused.

"He must be trying to get Aelita to safety." Yumi reasoned as they watched the dots move.

"Oh no. They are heading straight for a dead end." Ulrich said as he bit his lip. But rather than falling into the digital ocean, the dots flouted straight over it, leaving the tank to fall in and get destroyed. "How?" Ulrich said in surprise.

"Got it." Jeremy said as he finally got the live view online. A small screen came up on the monitor showing Aelita being carried through the air by a boy that looked like he was a year older than Yumi, making him two years older than the rest of them.

"~Are you alright?~" The boy asked Aelita.

"~Yes... I think so.~" Aelita said as she looked up at the boy. "~But... who are you?~"

"~...I'm... I'm...~" The boy started but he couldn't seem to find the words. "~I... I don't know.~"

"Aelita, thank goodness you're okay." Jeremy said with a sigh of relief.

The boy jumped and his eyes looked around for the voice he had just heard. "~Is... is that god? Why does he sound like a little kid?~" He said, earning a giggle from Aelita and Odd.

"~I'm alright Jeremy. Though things were a little close there.~" Aelita admitted.

"That's good to hear, but you and your new friend should probably get to a tower before Xana sends more monsters. The closest one is six units south by south east." Jeremy said as he adjusted his headset. "We will need to do a scan on him, see what we can learn."

"~Will do Jeremy.~" Aelita said, beckoning to the boy before running off in the indicated direction.

The kid continued to looking up at the sky, searching for the source of the disembodied voice as they ran along. "Who is that? Where did he come from?" Ulrich asked while they were waiting for Aelita to get to the tower.

"I have no idea who he is, or what, but it looks as though his data came from the destroyed tower." Jeremy said scratching his chin. "Hopefully when we preform a full scan of his data, it will reveal a few secrets for us to work with."

"Hopefully some answers, I'm really tired of all these questions. Especially since it isn't multiple choice." Odd said with his trade mark dumb grin.

* * *

Aelita ran along in front of this strange new boy. She wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to act. You didn't exactly meet new people very often when you lived inside of a computer program. She could feel a sort of nervous apprehension about what would happen when the events of the world slowed down and they would simply have to talk.

She believed the term for what she was feeling was 'shy'. It was an odd thing, and logically counter productive, but she still felt it. She had often wondered why she was able to have these emotions, ones that had no base in her roll on Lyoko. What purpose did they have? Surely whoever had programmed her had a reason for making her so... human.

The pink haired princess glanced over at the boy from the corner of her eye. Though he was running along behind her, his eyes were more focused on their surroundings, his face held an expression half way between amazement and distrust. As if he was worried that something would attack at any moment, and that the forest zone trees were hiding all sorts of enemies.

Aelita remembered her first time out of the tower, how enthralled she had been at the world around her, how nerves, and how scared. It had been the day it all started, back when Jeremy first turned on the supercomputer.

Though that didn't really explain how that could be day one. She had no memories of a time before then. Even her name was told to her by the supercomputer rather than truly remembered.

It had been horrible, to find out that she was just a string of ones and zeros inside of a computer, isolated from the outside world, and the mystique of Lyoko quickly died as the monsters came in on all sides, trapping her within her towers.

She couldn't help but to wonder if this boy was the same way, trapped, confused, and scared. He didn't know his name, or his origin, and now he was there on Lyoko.

Aelita stopped in front of the tower, standing in front of it as she turned to this boy, having to tilt her head back slightly to look up at him. "Well, here we are." Aelita said gesturing towards the tower. The large white structure gave off a neutral blue glow.

"Um... that's great and all but... what is it?" The boy said, scratching his head. Aelita blinked at the display. His mannerisms were quiet a bit like Odd's.

"It's a tower, we can use it to access the data of Lyoko, move between sectors, and recover our life points." Aelita explained.

"... I didn't understand that at all." He said, his shoulders sagging. "Why did that all sound like something from a video game?" But either way he looked at the tower, shuffling around it. Aelita had to stop herself from laughing at how clueless he was. She had to remember that thing that Jeremy and Ulrich always said Odd didn't have... Tact? That sounded about right. "How do we use it?" He finally asked her.

"Like this." Aelita said walked up to the tower and spreading her arms wide as she phased through its surface of the tower, leaving the boy shocked behind her. Once in sure turned around to see the boy stumble in behind her, trying not to slip and fall on his face from the unexpected lack of resistance. "Jeremy, we are in the tower now."

"~Great Aelita, have our new friend stand over on the center platform and I'll start up the scan.~" Jeremy said from his seat in the real world.

"You do realize I can hear you right? You don't have to tell her to tell me things." The boy said tapping a foot.

"~Well it is hard to address you when we don't know your name.~" Jeremy pointed out, causing Aelita to think. They really did need something to call him. It really did feel strange thinking of him as 'the boy' all the time, after all, he looked older than she did.

"Well sorry that I don't remember." The boy said crossing his arms.

"Alvin." Aelita said surprising the boy. "Well, since we don't have a name for you, how about we call you Alvin for now, and we can replace that with your real name when you remember it. After all, Jeremy used to call my Mia until I remembered my name."

"Hm, guess it works." The boy, now Alvin said with a slight nodded.

"~That's Genius! That way we can call him Al for short, its like a joke about him being in a virtual world!~" Aelita could hear Odd shouting.

"I'm in a what?" Alvin said in surprise.

"~Well explain everything, but could you first go over and step on that center platform so I can do a scan of your data. That way I can be running the background analysis while we explain everything.~" Jeremy said, pushing Odd away from the computer. Alvin did as he was told and the dot on the platform underneath him began to glow as it took in all the relevant information.

Aelita watched in silence, wondering just what kind of information they would be able to get.

* * *

 **Bumping the story**


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

Jeremy made a show of cracking his fingers as the preliminary scan finished and 'Alvin's' data started to organize itself on the screen in front of him. "Now, lets see just what our new friend has for us." He said in an excited voice.

"How longs that going to take?" Ulrich asked as he looked over shoulder, though he might as well not have, the massive amount of text that flitted across the monitor just gave him a headache, he had no idea how Jeremy managed to stare at it for so long without losing the rest of his eye sight.

"Not long actual, it isn't encrypted, so I just need to do a light scan for significant data patterns and cross reference them with known quantum physical relations." Jeremy said straightening his glasses.

"Um... yeah... you do that." Ulrich said scratching his head as Yumi gave a confused chuckle.

"Is this going to tell us where Al came from?" Odd asked.

"Probably not. I'd have to do a much deeper check for small software changes caused by the venture through the digital ocean in order to get a good idea of his origins, and even then, without anything to compare it to, I would only be speculating." Jeremy said, both answering the question and confusing the hell out of the other kids. "Alright, I've got the feed back, so lets see what we've got."

Jeremy stared as the code quickly spread itself across the screen, falling into silence as he concentrated.

"So, where do you guys think he came from?" Odd asked the other two Lyoko warriors.

"Beats me, maybe he was always somewhere in Lyoko and only now just woke up." Ulrich suggested.

"I think Ulrich might be right. He could be another one of Lyoko's failsafes against XANA, like Aelita." Yumi suggested.

"~It's possible. There are a lot of things about Lyoko that we don't know or understand.~" Aelita said from within the computer's world.

"I guess that would mean that he was created by the same person who created Aelita." Odd said tilting his head. "Would make sense, since it isn't like there are a large number of people capable of making self aware computer programs. Hey, would that make him like Aelita's brother or something?"

"~B...brother?~" Aelita said, her eyes widening.

"No way!" Jeremy shouted startling the others.

"Geez Jeremy, I was just saying. You didn't have to shout our heads off if you disagree." Odd said from him position on the floor after he had been shocked into falling on his butt.

"That isn't what I was taking about!" Jeremy said, his voice still raised as his finger flew along the keyboard. "This data I'm getting its... its..."

"Spit it our Einstein." Ulrich said crossing his arms. "What is it?"

"There are a lot of things dealing with energy convergence rates and the creation of specters, but there is also another code that... its..." Jeremy swallowed. "A formulation for the use of higher quantum starts to condense energy signatures for the creation of fails proteins."

"Um... meaning?" Odd said scratching his head in confusion, but it wasn't Jeremy that replied.

"~Ma...materialization.~" Aelita said, her voice unsteady.

"What!" Yumi shouted though it was clear that all three of the Lyoko warriors were thinking it.

"His data code has a nearly complete materialization code in it. There are a few small holes, probably caused by XANA disrupting his awakening, but it is much farther along than anything I had managed to come up with." Jeremy said his hands stopping above the keyboard. "With this data... we could get Aelita out of the supercomputer by the end of the long weekend."

They were all to shocked to speak. It was like a dream come true for all of them. "~I'm... going to be free.~"

* * *

 **As you've all probably already noticed, this story is a dribble of sorts. The individual parts are not that long so really this point would be the end of the first chapter if I was doing episode lengths.**


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